-The Indian Express A committee set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests has suggested new parameters to declare pristine forested areas as ‘inviolate’ and thus out of bounds for mining or other harmful non-forest activities. The panel, headed by former environment secretary T Chatterjee, has recommended that national parks and wildlife sanctuaries; areas within a kilometre of protected areas; compact patches of very dense forests; last remnants of forest types...

-The Hindu UN-Habitat has commenced a new global consultation to reiterate the crucial role of wastewater management in the water cycle and explore policy options for a sustainable future. These consultations have also become necessary to set a future goal for water use, particularly for the years following 2015, which is the target year for the Millennium Development Goals. For India — a severely water-stressed region — this offers an opportunity...

-The Times of India Every few days, Rajkumar Sharma, manager of a group housing society in Noida, makes the mandatory trip to the nearby petrol pump to pick up his quota of diesel. A few days back, even as he was on his 'diesel duty' as he calls it, he was making some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. "Our average monthly consumption is around 400 litres which means a monthly expenditure of around...

-The Hindustan Times The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has been slapped with a show-cause notice for not giving proper reply to an RTI query over shortage of water. In its order dated December 17, the chief information commissioner (CIC) of Haryana, Naresh Gulati, asked the executive engineer of division-2 of Huda, Gurgaon, to furnish correct and complete information to the petitioner free of cost. "The state public information officer-cum-executive engineer, Huda division...

-The Indian Express The national water framework law proposed by the Union government could not be more timely. Even as the onerous task of persuading state governments to accept the idea remains unfinished, the proposed framework, as an overarching statement of general principles that lays down the broad contours within which the Centre, the states and the local bodies can exercise their respective powers on exploiting water, is a comprehensive step...